John Hamilton Reynolds

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John Hamilton Reynolds
Born(1794-09-09)9 September 1794
St Paul's School
Literary movementRomanticism
SpouseEliza Drewe

John Hamilton Reynolds (9 September 1794[1] – 15 November 1852) was an English poet, satirist, critic, and playwright. He was a close friend and correspondent of poet John Keats, whose letters to Reynolds constitute a significant body of Keats' poetic thought.[2] Reynolds was also the brother-in-law of the writer and humorist Thomas Hood, who was married to his sister Jane.

Early life

Reynolds was born in

St Paul's School in London,[3]
when the family moved in 1806, completing formal education in 1810.

Early career

He took a junior clerkship in an insurance office, the Amicable Society for Perpetual Assurance, working there at least until 1816; and from 1818 to 1820, he worked in Essex Street for

classical and English literature and also began writing poetry. He was encouraged in his literary interests by his friend John F M Dovaston
, a former student of Reynolds's father.

Literary works

Reynolds's first published poem, "Ode to Friendship" appeared in the

London Magazine. In addition to the latter, Reynolds also contributed to the Edinburgh Review during the 1820s and in 1831 he became part-owner of The Athenaeum.[5]

John Keats

His friend

Wordsworth parody, ‘’Peter Bell: A Lyrical Ballad’’;[7] and it is in witty parody that Reynolds is now considered to have been at his poetic best.[8]

Personal life

In 1822, he married Eliza Drewe, which led to a friendship and literary collaboration with her brother-in-law, Thomas Hood. Together the two wrote several comic and satirical pieces, the most popular being Odes and Addresses to Great People in 1825.

Tragedy struck in 1835 when his ten-year-old daughter Lucy died. He was bankrupt in 1838 but continued earning a small income writing. In 1847 he moved to the Isle of Wight as assistant clerk in a county court. Reynolds became depressed and started drinking heavily, although he was not without friends and admirers to the end. In 1852, Reynolds was found dead in the bedroom of his father's apartment in Newport, three months after his birthday.

See also

References

  1. ^ L. M. Jones, The Life of John Hamilton Reynolds (Hanover 1984) p. 4
  2. ^ E-notes on 19th century literary criticism; includes image
  3. ^ I Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (Cambridge 1995) p. 788
  4. ^ "Francis Fladgate senior".
  5. ISBN 0-903802-37-6
    .
  6. ^ D Hay, Young Romantics (London 2011) p. 98
  7. ^ D Hay, Young Romantics (London 2011) p. 175
  8. ^ I Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (Cambridge 1995) p. 788

Sources

  • Barnard, John, Keats’s ‘Robin Hood’, John Hamilton Reynolds, and the ‘Old Poets’. Warton Lecture on English Poetry; published in Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. 75.
  • Gittings, Robert, The Poetry of John Hamilton Reynolds. In: Ariel, Vol. I, No. 4. October 1970.
  • Hudnall, Clayton E., John Hamilton Reynolds, James Rice, and Benjamin Bailey in the Leigh Browne-Lockyer Collection. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. XIX, 1970, pp. 11–39.
  • Jones, Leonidas M., The Life of John Hamilton Reynolds. Hanover, University Press of New England. 1984.
  • Jones, Leonidas M., New Letters, Articles, and Poems by John Hamilton Reynolds. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. VI, 1957, pp. 97–108.
  • Jones, Leonidas M., Reynolds and Keats. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. VII, 1958, pp. 47–59.
  • Jones, Leonidas M., Reynolds and Rice in Defence of Patmore. In: The Keats-Shelley Memorial Bulletin, No. XXI, 1970, pp. 12–20.
  • Kaier, Anne, John Hamilton Reynolds: Four New Letters. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. XXX, 1981.
  • Kovesi, Simon, John Hamilton Reynolds, John Clare and The London Magazine, The Wordsworth Circle, 42.3 (Summer 2011), 226-235.
  • Kaufman, Paul, The Reynolds-Hood Commonplace Book: A Fresh Appraisal. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. X, Winter 1961.
  • McMullin, B.J., John Hamilton Reynolds and Archibald Constable & Co., 1819-1821. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, 1994, pp. 19–24.
  • Mann, Phyllis G., The Reynolds Family. In: Keats-Shelley Journal, Vol. V, Winter 1956.
  • Marsh, George L., New Data on Keats's Friend Reynolds. In: Modern Philology, Vol. XXV, No. 3. February 1928.
  • Morgan, Peter F., John Hamilton Reynolds and Thomas Hood. In: Keats-Shelly Journal, Vol. XI, 1962.
  • Pope, Willard B., John Hamilton Reynolds, the Friend of Keats. Reprint from Wessex, 1935.
  • Reynolds, John Hamilton (Ed. Leonidas M. Jones), Selected Prose of John Hamilton Reynolds. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. 1966.
  • Reynolds, John Hamilton (Ed. Leonidas M. Jones), The Letters of John Hamilton Reynolds. Lincoln, University of Nebraska. 1973.
  • Richardson, Joanna, Letters from Lambeth. The correspondence of the Reynolds family with John Freeman Milward Dovaston 1808-1815. Woodbridge, Boydell. 1981.

External links

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